Nathan Cleverly, right, throws a punch at Antonio Brancalion during their fight for the European light-heavyweight title at Wembley Arena Photograph: Simon Dawson/AP

Nathan Cleverly hit the hard but eccentric Italian Antonio Brancalion almost at will for four-and-a-half rounds to win the vacant European light-heavyweight championship and remain on schedule for a world title shot some time this year.

The crowd, not one of the venue's biggest in recent times, appreciated Cleverly's pinpoint punching and were amused by Brancalion's curious mix of courage and idiocy. The Welshman bloodied his opponent's nose within a minute and worked out the quickest route to a finish soon afterwards, as the Italian conducted a bizarre ritual of winking at his corner, with his gloves down and his chin in the air – an invitation Cleverly was quick to accommodate.

He rattled Brancalion's gums repeatedly with long rights, but the Italian kept ­coming. And he shipped some genuine finishers right on the button in the fourth, giving a lie to suspicions that his last fight – a first-round stoppage loss last June when he first challenged for this subsequently vacated title – disqualified him as a serious opponent. But he took one flurry too many at the end of the round and took a count. The end was not far away. Cleverly belted the bark off him for another 75 seconds before referee Jean-Louis Legland led Brancalion to the sanctuary of his corner. Cleverly, unbeaten in 19, graduates from university in maths in May and will look to fit his fighting plans around that big day.

Kevin Mitchell took a mere four minutes and 24 seconds to cut down Ignacio Mendoza, his second Colombian opponent in three months, with a punch to savour and send a message of serious intent to the world's best lightweights. The right-hand counter over the top of a lazy lead that caught Mendoza flush halfway through the second round lifted the muscled Colombian clean off his feet and left him in a squirming heap for the full count. The unbeaten Mitchell could not have done more to convince boxing's powerbrokers that he is ready for the likes of Michael Katsidis and Juan Manuel Márquez.

Mitchell barely raised a sweat in this defence of the WBO Intercontinental title he won against Breidis Prescott in December, and is hungry to fight for a real title before the end of the year. A likely foe is the exciting Australian Katsidis, who owns an interim version of the title, or even the 36-year-old Márquez, who turned down a fight with Amir Khan to pursue an easier contest against Ricky Hatton.

Trainer Jimmy Tibbs has done wonders for Mitchell, who too often has allowed his buzzing temperament to drown out his ­discipline. He boxes now behind a stiff jab and his eye for an opening remains as sharp as ever. When he saw Mendoza's lead drop, he banged over the sweetest right he has thrown in any of his 31 contests. Mendoza, who had won 27 of 32 contests, came with a decent cv and every intention of setting the record straight for Prescott.

The Spain-based Colombian, muscled up like a rock with his right hand cocked, looked a willing customer in the first round and Mitchell boxed as carefully as he did against Prescott. But Mitchell brought proceedings to a painful conclusion early in the second round. The 26-year-old challenger looked sickened by the punch and was never going to beat the count. It was one of Mitchell's easier nights.

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